River Flows in You
by Sally White
Summary: "Holding you, holding you, it's in you river flows in you. Slow it down, slow it down, that river flows inside me too. Holding you, holding you, it's in you river flows in you. Waiting now, waiting now, just be strong, you will make it through." When you feel that you have nothing left in the world, what do you do - stay, or try to live on the best you can? A dramatic Fakiru.


Well, hello there! I'm Sally White, and this here is my first story for the Princess Tutu fandom. I'm a little nervous about this story, but seeing as this is only the prologue, obviously there's room for lots of improvement, right? Also, if anyone would like to volunteer to be my beta reader, I would be very grateful and eager to accept. Thank you!

So, I discovered this anime back in January in a clip in an AMV for the song Stereo Hearts. The clip I saw touched my heart, and I just had to check out the anime. By the time I got around to watching it I was back in college, so watching all the episodes was a slow process, but I was able to and I loved every minute of it. I also roleplayed on Facebook as Ahiru and Fakir for a few months, so I think I've a pretty good hold on their characters. I love this anime so much; it is the first anime I've watched all the way through, and it has earned its place in my heart as my favorite anime.

I only recently thought of this story idea, and as I've already said I'm a little nervous about posting it, but I really want to contribute to the Princess Tutu archive here on ff. There are not that many fics for PT and that saddens me. We must write more, people! Princess Tutu deserves to be higher up on the list! We must fight for our anime!

Anyway, enough of my rambling. Please enjoy my story!

Disclaimer: I do not own Princess Tutu. Sad day. I also do not own the song River Flows in You by Yiruma or the song Look After You by The Fray.

**River Flows in You**

**By: Sally White (a.k.a. RDH)**

**Prologue: Look After You**

_Once upon a time, there was a man who died._

_This man was a storyteller, and he possessed the ability to make the to make the stories he wrote come to life. The last story he wrote was about a kind, noble, handsome prince who was fighting against an evil raven. The man's hands were cut off before he finished writing the story, and soon after he died. Seeing that their tale had no ending to be soon in sight, the prince and the raven escaped from the story into the real world. There was a great battle between them, and the prince ended up shattering his own heart to seal away the raven. With no heart and no means to know what he was supposed to do now that his enemy was gone, the prince was left to wander in search of a purpose._

_Years later, the prince was taken in by the reincarnation of his knight, who watched over and protected him from the cruelties of this world. The prince also met a young girl who fell in love with him, and so for a few years he found that his life was simple and predictable._

_The dead storyteller, however, soon grew bored of his characters' normal lives, and decided to spice up their lives by including another character._

_The storyteller turned a young duck into a girl who could turn into Princess Tutu, the only one able to restore the prince's heart to him. One by one, the princess did return the pieces of the prince's heart to him, and the raven was released from his prison._

_With the help of the princess and his knight, the prince was able to defeat the raven once and for all, and the story was finally completed._

_But Princess Tutu turned back into a duck, and the knight had found out that he was the storyteller's descendent and possessed the same abilities that the storyteller had. The two were left to wonder what would happen next in their lives._

_Which leads to question, is their story really over?. . ._

…**-PT-…**

'…_and they all lived happily ever after. The End.'_

Fakir finished the story he had been working on and sat up in his chair, placing the quill back in its holder. He stretched in his seat then popped everything that needed to be popped before relaxing again. He turned in his chair to look behind him at his bed.

Ahiru was fast asleep on his bed, curled up in that adorable way with her beak tucked under her wing. Her shoulders rose and fell with each steady breath she took, and she looked very relaxed and peaceful.

It had been six months since that fateful battle with the raven. Mytho and Rue had not come to visit them yet, probably due to having much to work out with their return to their kingdom. Fakir had continued to write out the stories of the people of Kinkan, finishing many of the stories that Drosselmeyer had left unfinished. No one remembered what had happened that day, nor did they remember Princess Tutu, or even Ahiru herself. Almost everything lived in blissful ignorance of life before the defeat of the raven.

Ahiru was, of course, still a duck, as she had been since having to give up her pendent that had kept her human because it had been the last piece of Mytho's heart. She hadn't grown much since them, though her feathers had darkened from yellow to a bright gold color. Her eyes, however, were not very duck-like at all, remaining the same pure and clear cerulean color that was both beautiful and endearing to Fakir.

He sighed, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand. He had tried everything that he could think of, written dozens of stories, trying to find a way to give her back her human form, but so far nothing had worked. He had been wracking his brain, searching for any loophole, any clue, any secret that would make her human again. But he always came up short. He knew that he had been the one to say that they needed to return to their true selves, but he regretted it if only because he hadn't realized how much he would miss the bubbly, bright-eyed girl who had unknowingly made him fall head-over-heels for her.

And she wasn't happy just being a duck. He knew this for a fact. Oh, she did her best to try to hide it behind cheerful quacks and duck smiles, but her eyes told the real story. She missed being human. She missed her friends at the Academy. She missed ballet. She missed being able to talk, to laugh, to truly smile. . .and he was unable to do anything about it.

And he hated it.

Fakir sighed and stood up, walking around his room and gathering things he needed to get ready for bed. He looked at Ahiru again with sadness. _I'm sorry, Ahiru_, he thought. _I'm doing my best, but I don't know if I'll ever be able to turn you human again. I really am just a useless knight after all. . ._

He sighed once more before exiting the room to go to the bathroom to get ready for bed. He didn't noticed a glow just outside the window of his room, and after he left the glow disappeared then reappeared in the room. The glow slowly took shape of a familiar female shape, and she made her way over to the duck. The delicate female leaned down and lightly kissed the top of Ahiru's downy head before whispering in a soft, sweet voice, _"I will help you both. I promise." _

The door of the room opened, and the glowy female vanished. Fakir stepped into his room, now dressed for bed. He closed the door with his foot, then set the clothes he had changed out of on the stool that was beside his bed. He, carefully, slipped under the covers, doing his best not to disturb Ahiru. The little duck shuffled a little in her sleep but did not awaken. He reached down and stroked her feather with his fingertips before reaching over and turning off the lamp. He settled down on his pillow and closed his eyes to try to go to sleep. Oddly enough, a strange, almost foreboding feeling was now in the pit of his gut, but he did his best to just ignore it and go to sleep.

After all, what could possibly happen in the sleepy little town of Kinkan?

"_**If ever there was a doubt**_

_**My love she leans into me**_

_**This most assuredly counts**_

_**She says most assuredly**_

_**Oh, oh**_

_**Be my baby**_

_**I'll look after you**_

_**After you"**_

**To Be Continued. . .**

Well, that's it. For the prologue, I mean. I'll do my best to update as often as I'm able, but I have a bad habit of letting life get in the way of my writing. I will update though, I promise! I will also try to post some covers for the story on my deviantART, so keep up on my updates on my profile so you can find out when they're posted.

So, folks, I think I like how this turned out. There's much more to come in the story. Don't forget to let me know if you'd like to be my beta. And please review so that I know how you liked it and if I need to improve on anything. Laters! Peace – Sally White


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